The Lover: A Short Story(12)

Judith stood still and listened again.

The howl rose, making the wooden boards beneath the soles of her feet vibrate.

She stared at Nathaniel, who slept still, bewitched or simply exhausted. The rifle was by the entrance, but she did not bother grabbing it. She yanked the door open. The wind battered her skin; flakes fluttered and tangled in her black hair.

In walked a liquid darkness with teeth that gleamed white as the snow—a darkness that possessed quicksilver eyes, resembling the edge of a knife. A few candles bent and sputtered, as if fleeing the enormous creature, whose claws clacked against the floor.

For a second, she thought to raise her voice in a shrill, stupid scream, rousing the hunter.

But the darkness grinned at her, a grin as hard as ice, composed of a multitude of jagged teeth that could snap bones with a single bite.

She recognized him now.

She’d always known her lover would come from beyond the forest.

Gently she closed the door behind him and showed him the bed where a warm meal might be had.